Anthropometry and subsequent mortality in groups of children aged 6-59 months in Guinea-Bissau.

To assess the importance of nutritional status for subsequent survival, 2228 children aged 6-59 mo were followed for 8-12 mo in four different areas of Guinea-Bissau. The overall death rate was 0.62/100 child-months of follow-up (126 deaths) and 0.63 for the 1756 children who were examined on entering the study (109 deaths). Mortality was twice as high in the periurban as in the rural areas due to an outbreak of measles. In a bivariate analysis the relationship between nutritional status indicators and mortality was confounded by the age dependence of both. Using Cox's regression technique, height-for-age but not weight-for-height was positively correlated with survival. The number of children in the household was a better discriminator for death from measles than was nutritional status. Long-term factors, probably of multiple social origin, are likely causes of both relatively short stature and high mortality.